Oxford Sciences Enterprises is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $800M in AUM based in Oxford, UK.^[1] It operates in partnership with the University of Oxford, as the university's preferred investor, several prominent financiers back the firm, including Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Huawei and Invesco.^[2][3] The firm uses academic research from the university's science departments to form commercial businesses, also known as spin-outs.^[4][5][6]

The company was founded in 2015 by David Norwood, who was previously the founder of the IP Group, which initially invested only in spinoffs from the university's chemistry department.^[7] Oxford Sciences Enterprises initially raised £600m from investors, which included Lansdowne Partners and Google Ventures.^{[8][9][10][11]} Google Ventures partners Tom Hulme and Dr Krishna Yeshwant also joined OSI's advisory board, along with Google AI researcher Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind.^[8][12]

Charles Conn, previously CEO of the Rhodes Trust and former McKinsey partner, was appointed CEO in March 2019. Former Google CFO Patrick Pichette joined him as Chair of the board.^[7] However, Conn departed in November 2019 and Pichette shortly after. OSI's CFO became acting CEO until the appointment of Alexis Dormandy, another former McKinsey partner, in October 2020^[13]

In September 2023 Ed Bussey was named CEO of the company, and at the same time Jack Edmondson was appointed to the newly created role of CIO.^{[14][15][16][17]}

OSE is structured differently from other venture capital firms, being an evergreen patient capital, privately held company and not bound by a limited partnership agreement.^[18][19][20] As such, the company holds long-term investments, pursuing a patient capital model. OSI differentiates itself from classic venture firms because of its relationship with the university.^[21] Unlike most university-linked venture firms, Oxford University is a shareholder in the company, with OSI receiving half of the university's stake in the intellectual property of a spinout.^[22]

OSE works with the university's technology transfer office, Oxford University Innovation, which helps manage the intellectual property and patent estate of the university.^[23]

In July 2019, The company announced an investment from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei owns £4.1m in OSI shares (approximately 0.7% of the total fund).^[24]